Little known law (?)

This is a discussion on Little known law (?) within the In the News: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly forums, part of the The Back Porch category; Man Faces Years In Canadian Jail For Little-Known Law - Money News Story - KIRO Seattle
may get 3 years for carrying into Canada.
Anytime ...

Canadians will welcome you and your money when the winter Olympics begin in February. But trying to take something else across the border could land you in jail.

Gerald Burke of Tacoma knows that first hand, and is facing an uncertain future because of it.

“The charge that the Crown is after is that I do three years in prison,” he told KIRO 7 Investigative Reporter Amy Clancy recently.

Burke says it was a simple mistake, but the Canadian government calls what Burke allegedly did a serious criminal offense.

Burke remembers the day in February when he was arrested while crossing into British Columbia at the Peace Arch: “Mr. Burke, put your hands behind your back. You are under arrest for smuggling a gun into Canada.”

Burke's loaded semi-automatic 9-millimeter handgun was discovered by Canada Border Services Agency officers in the center console of his SUV. Burke is licensed to carry a concealed weapon in the states, but Canadian laws dictate all firearms must be declared at the border. Handguns are strictly prohibited.

Clancy asked Burke, “did you know that it was in your vehicle at the time?”
Burke: “I did not.” Clancy: “Did you just forget?”
Burke: “I just forgot.”

The CBSA declined Clancy’s request for an interview, but the agency's investigation reveals that Burke seemed nervous at the border crossing and had a hard time answering questions.

Once the weapon was found, Burke was handcuffed and put in a cell. He spent eight days in jail before being allowed bail.

His wife of 26 years, Kelli Burke, says she couldn't even speak with him for five days.

“The last thing we heard when we were up there was the prosecutor saying she wouldn’t be happy without a year in prison for him.”

Burke is now charged with five criminal counts, including gun smuggling, lying to border guards, and possessing 85 rounds of ammunition 'for a purpose dangerous to the public peace or for the purpose of committing an offence."

Peter Ritchie, Burke’s Vancouver-based attorney, tells Clancy “if you have a gun in this country, it is considered to be a very serious matter.”

Ritchie believes that most Americans, including gun owners, have no idea how different U.S. and Canadian gun laws are.

“If you come to Canada,” Ritchie said outside a courthouse in Surrey, B.C., “it’s a whole different ballgame here, and you face one year minimum in jail. Even though you may be the sweetest citizen that walked the earth, that’s what you’re looking at here.”

Burke has no criminal history, is a long-time church missionary, and a married father of three. After he was arrested, dozens of Burke's friends and family members wrote to the BC court, asking for leniency. But Canadian gun laws are very strictly enforced.

In 2008, 191 firearms were seized from people crossing into B.C. and the Yukon. This past July, a Bremerton-based Navy sailor was sentenced to a year in jail after pleading guilty to gun smuggling. His BC lawyer, Kelly Merrigan, tells Clancy that he represents about three Americans per year, arrested for carrying handguns into Canada.

Blaine hardware store owner Jerry Wolten used to rent storage space where travelling American gun owners could lock up their weapons. He claims he’d have up to 30 guns stored at a time. Now, according to Wolten, U.S. regulations make it too difficult and too expensive. But he believes the need is still there, telling Clancy “how do you stress it enough to avoid all this? It has to be, just don’t bring it. But there’s not enough education.”

Burke's attorney, Peter Ritchie, agrees, saying “nobody’s going to warn you in advance. I don’t think there are billboards on the highway saying, hey! Don’t forget you’ve got your gun in your car, or you’re looking at a year in jail in this country.”

While Burke awaits his trial date next fall, he's warning others---especially before the Winter Olympics—“if for no other reason than to prevent one fellow American from going through the same thing that I have gone through. That would be reason enough to contact you” he told Clancy.

When Clancy and her photographer, Brian Doerflinger, crossed the border into Canada to work on this story, they looked for any signs warning Americans not to bring weapons. There are signs that tell you to keep right, watch for pedestrians and bicycles, and to “ThinkMetric.” But the only one warning against handguns is right under the Canadian border guard’s window, much too late to turn around.

"The theory that the children of the Commonwealth are the charge of the Commonwealth is a pagan one, derived from heathen Sparta and Platoís heathen republic, and connected by regular, logical sequence with legalized prostitution and the dissolution of the conjugal tie." R.L. Dabney

Guess our wonderful neighbors to the north have none of those quaint little American traditions, like a habeas corpus law... Eight days in jail before bail was set?

What I find so hypocritical is that the Canadians are so quick to embrace our potential enemies, namely the Islamic extremists and others who are truly bent on "purpose[s] dangerous to the public peace..."

Habeus corpus

Originally Posted by gasmitty

Guess our wonderful neighbors to the north have none of those quaint little American traditions, like a habeas corpus law... Eight days in jail before bail was set?

What I find so hypocritical is that the Canadians are so quick to embrace our potential enemies, namely the Islamic extremists and others who are truly bent on "purpose[s] dangerous to the public peace..."

Makes me thankful once again to live in the country I do.

Don't be so quick to judge on this issue. We don't know what occurred.

Our legal system is derived in great measure from English Common Law, as is the Canadian system, and habeas corpus was a part of English law since the Magna Carta, I think.

As for the gun issue, anyone traveling abroad needs to know the laws of the country they are going to. Yes, the proposed punishment seems harsh, but as usual, like here in the US, some bargain will be reached.

And stuff like this happens here too. Once upon a time a NYC police officer drove into NJ and was promptly arrested and charged with felony possession. He lost at the SC level. (And he should have known better too.)

You can't compare the laws of Canada to that of the US. It's apples and Oranges. Canada is comparable to California at best.

It is also no friend of human rights, no more than China or Germany, which is to say not at all. Just because they share our northern border doesn't mean we should allow them to kidnap one of our citizens, hold him without due process or representation and seek to deny his rights. Not based on the flawed logic of a gun control law.

Self Defense is a human right.

This is a violation of the man's human rights. Rights recognized by our government, not defined by it, they exist without it. Men without the means to defend themselves are poor and corruptible. Why aren't we standing up to this atrocity?

Little known law? I thought it was a very well known law. No (hand)guns into Canada.

Agreed, not little known at all.

Further everyone knows, or should by now at this stage in the international borders and guns game know, that possessing a firearm or ammunition as at and through a border crossing is a HUGE no-no (!).
This is featured in US national news almost weekly and has been for decades...!

The excuse of I forgot it was there is not recognized by any country's laws and enforcement.

Dude knew he was going to Canada prior so he should have thought to remove the firearm as when he was at home.
He didn't and boom now he suffers the consequences.

Exact same would occur here in the US as related to a foreign national attempting to do same.

Clueless commentary Mr. Sniper

It is also no friend of human rights, no more than China or Germany, which is to say not at all. J

Clueless. Get on a plane and go visit there sometime. Your over the top comparison to China or Germany (presumably wartime Germany) is just plain weird.

Canada has a finely honed appreciation for human rights, and an excellent justice system.

While you (or I) may think there is a fundamental human right to carry a gun, there is not. We have certain Constitutional rights--sort of, and that's about it. Or as an old Southern Lawyer once told his son, "Son you got no rights."

Canada gets to choose their laws and their rules, just as we get to choose ours.

I've noticed that certain TV personalities and some writers seem to want to pick a fight with Canada. Why, is absolutely beyond me. That's like picking a fight with your sibling or your first cousin.

Tough luck but, folks really need to research and respect the laws of any country they intend to visit before actually going/being there and doing that will actually help you to "remember" the handgun and ammunition that you "forgot" was in your car.
And...if you're not willing to take the time to do that.
The Internet makes doing that homework real EASY B.T.W....then just Stay Home.